Citation

Mak MHJ. Illn. Crises Loss 2011; 19(1): 41-56.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.2190/IL.19.1.d

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Suicide has been the leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 29 in Hong Kong since 1999. A Chinese-language Facebook group named "I Need To Practise Killing Myself" was exposed and found 188 young people had signed up for a mass suicide attempt on December 21, 2009 (Lau, 2009, p. 2). This raises an alarm about the disturbance of some young people's emotional and mental health. This study aims to evaluate knowledge and attitudes about death and death-related issues among secondary students in Hong Kong. This article will focus on the findings relating to secondary students' knowledge and attitudes toward suicide and related issues. Thirty secondary students were interviewed. Poor school performance, poor family relationship, and poor boy-girl relationships are the three main risk factors for youth suicide. Unexpectedly, one-fifth of participants have suicidal ideation at various stages of their lives and some had exposure to suicide attempts and deaths. Some implications for enhancing their mental health and preventing youth suicide are suggested.

Language: en

Keywords

suicidal ideation; youth suicide; Chinese secondary students